Fernando Gaviria makes it a hat-trick of stage wins in Tour of Guangxi

Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) blasted to his third consecutive stage win in the Tour of Guangxi on Saturday, winning the finishing sprint into Nanning.

The Colombian rider received a perfect leadout from his Quick-Step Floors teammates to outsprint beat Maximilian Walscheid (Team Sunweb), Magnus Cort (Orica-Scott), Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) and the rest of the main bunch.

Three riders – Nuno Bico (Movistar), Jack Haig (Orica-Scott) and Daniel Oss (BMC) – formed the day’s main breakaway, but the peloton wasn’t willing of making any gifts ahead of the race’s queen-stage, and as consequence the trio couldn’t establish a significant lead.

The escapees were brought back before the last intermediate sprint, where Julian Alaphilippe grabbed three seconds to put him into contention for the general classification, but other moves soon followed from the bunch, with Lawson Craddock (Cannondale-Drapac) and Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates) giving it a go and managing to stay at the front until the final five kilometers of stage three.

Quick-Step Floors took the reins in the bunch at the three kilometers to go mark and began setting a high pace in the pack, before Max Richeze stepped in and showcased for the umpteenth time his extraordinary lead-out skills, bringing Fernando Gaviria to the front and helping the Colombian stamp again his authority on the Tour of Guangxi sprints.